DELIVERY MAN (Ken Scott) Rating: NNN
If you’ve seen Starbuck, you’ve essentially seen Delivery Man. Ken Scott’s American remake of his own 2011 Quebecois comedy is exactly the same movie, down to shot choices, character names and even the casting of Sébastien René in a key role. It’s just that the action’s been moved from Montreal to Brooklyn.
Vince Vaughn replaces Patrick Huard as David Wozniak, a no-account meat truck driver who discovers that the sperm donations he gave in his youth have resulted in 533 children – about a fifth of whom are now looking for their biological dad and willing to sue the fertility clinic responsible to find him. Concealing his identity, David gets to know a few of his kids – and winds up forming attachments.
The story’s about as illogical and manipulative as it was the first time around, but it holds up okay. Vaughn’s shifty/manic tendencies are a nice echo of what Huard did in the original, and Cobie Smulders musters some dignity as David’s long-suffering girlfriend, but this version is stolen by the delightful Chris Pratt as our hero’s hapless attorney.
Kinda wish Scott had cast him in the lead instead.
